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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.6

CVE-2026-84716 json

Automation-controller: automation-controller: instance install_bundle issues 10-year, non-revocable receptor mesh-ca certificates for caller-chosen (and case-variant impersonating) hostnames

published 2026-09-23 46 d ago modified 2026-11-06 3 d ago also EUVD-2026-85611

cvss
6.6
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 7%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A flaw was found in the automation-controller instance install-bundle endpoint. When a System Administrator downloads an execution/hop node's install bundle, the controller signs an X.509 certificate with the receptor mesh certificate authority in which the Common Name, DNS subject-alternative-name, and receptor node-id are taken verbatim from the caller-chosen instance hostname, with a hard-coded ten-year validity, a random serial, and no issuance log or revocation list. Because the hostname charset validator is case-insensitive while the uniqueness validator is case-sensitive, an administrator can register a case variant of an existing control node's hostname and obtain a mesh-CA-signed certificate that TLS peers, which match hostnames case-insensitively, accept as that control node. In managed/hosted deployments — where the customer holds controller superuser but the platform operator runs the mesh — this yields a long-lived, non-revocable mesh peer credential and, with an on-path position, TLS impersonation or interception of control/hybrid mesh nodes. It does not grant direct remote code execution, because receptor work submission is gated by a separate signing key not included in the bundle.

Patch / fix

  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 0:4.6.33-1.el8ap
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 0:4.6.33-1.el9ap
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 0:4.7.17-1.el9ap
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 1789673739
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 1789580684
  • receptor ansible automation platform inside 2.5, ansible automation platform developer 2.5, ansible automation platform 2.5 1.6.8-1.el8ap
  • receptor ansible automation platform inside 2.6, ansible automation platform inside 2.5, ansible automation platform developer 2.6 +3 more 1.6.8-1.el9ap
  • python3.12-sqlparse ansible automation platform developer 2.5, ansible automation platform 2.5 0.6.0-1.el8ap
  • python3.12-sqlparse ansible automation platform developer 2.6, ansible automation platform developer 2.5, ansible automation platform 2.6 +1 more 0.6.0-1.el9ap
  • python3.12-gitpython ansible automation platform 2.5 3.1.60-1.el8ap
  • python3.12-gitpython ansible automation platform 2.6, ansible automation platform 2.5 3.1.60-1.el9ap
  • automation-gateway-server ansible automation platform 2.5 2.5.20260923-1.el8ap
  • automation-gateway-server ansible automation platform 2.5 2.5.20260923-1.el9ap

red hat advisories RHSA-2026:71114RHSA-2026:71113

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-84716 updated cvss 6.6

automation-controller: automation-controller: instance install_bundle issues 10-year, non-revocable receptor mesh-CA certificates for caller-chosen (and case-variant impersonating) hostnames

  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 automation-controller-venv-tower 4.6.33-1.el8ap Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 automation-controller-venv-tower 4.6.33-1.el9ap
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:71114
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 ansible-automation-platform-26/controller-rhel9 1789673739
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:71179
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 automation-controller-venv-tower 4.7.17-1.el9ap
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:71113
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 ansible-automation-platform-27/controller-rhel9 1789580684
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:71177
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 receptor 1.6.8-1.el8ap, receptorctl 1.6.8-1.el8ap, automation-hub 4.10.19-1.el8ap, python3.12-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el8ap, python3.12-gitpython 3.1.60-1.el8ap, automation-controller 4.6.33-1.el8ap, +14 more Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 receptor 1.6.8-1.el9ap, receptorctl 1.6.8-1.el9ap, automation-hub 4.10.19-1.el9ap, python3.12-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el9ap, python3.12-gitpython 3.1.60-1.el9ap, automation-controller 4.6.33-1.el9ap, +14 more Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 ansible-automation-platform-26/hub-rhel9 1789611274, ansible-automation-platform-26/gateway-rhel9 1789666472, ansible-automation-platform-26/hub-web-rhel9 1789615881, ansible-automation-platform-26/receptor-rhel9 1789610120, ansible-automation-platform-26/mcp-tools-rhel9 1789609282, ansible-automation-platform-26/de-minimal-rhel9 1789658734, +24 more Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 receptor 1.6.8-1.el9ap, receptorctl 1.6.8-1.el9ap, automation-hub 4.11.14-1.el9ap, python3.12-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el9ap, python3.12-gitpython 3.1.60-1.el9ap, automation-controller 4.7.17-1.el9ap, +28 more Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 10 receptor 1.6.8-1.el10ap, receptorctl 1.6.8-1.el10ap, python-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el10ap, python3-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el10ap Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 ansible-automation-platform-27/hub-rhel9 1789572632, ansible-automation-platform-27/gateway-rhel9 1789579764, ansible-automation-platform-27/hub-web-rhel9 1789575016, ansible-automation-platform-27/receptor-rhel9 1789519651, ansible-automation-platform-27/mcp-tools-rhel9 1789521154, ansible-automation-platform-27/de-minimal-rhel9 1789582543, +25 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
46 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 7% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

Affected products

  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.